Delft Institute of Positive Design (DIOPD)

Positive Design Delft students design for our well-being Pieter Desmet Positive Design Delft students design for our well-being Pieter Desmet 2018 ISBN: 978-94-6186-912-8 Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering Delft University of Technology Delft, The Netherlands Content Uniekies 6 Your disability as your superpower Konnekt 10 The barrier as game board Present Moments 14 A relaxing ritual for children Billy Cash 18 Saving for happiness Stadsdorp Story 22 Designing for the general happiness of the community Embassy Of Youth 28 Loitering teens of Rotterdam-Zuid discover their unique talents Punching, kicking, stroking and rocking 34 Glowb calms you during a psychological crisis. The Goedzak 40 Give your old things a new life Fizzy & Stickz 44 Take the woods to the hospital Tinytask 50 Your daily dose of happiness Preface In 2015, a new journal was launched: the Dutch Journal of Positive Psychology. The editor-in-chief invited me to contribute with a recurring column that refects on the question of how design can contribute to the feld of positive psychology. I was immediately excited because I saw an opportunity to share some of our students’ in- spiring work with a wider audience. Hence, we agreed that the columns would serve to present examples of Positive Design – design cases that focus on human fourishing by students of the TU Delft Faculty of Indus- trial Design Engineering. Over the years, I have witnessed how an increasing number of design students have become inspired by the concept of wellbeing. These are designers who aspire to consciously and deliberately use their design skills in contributing to the happiness of individuals and communities. Rather than being a fortuitous by-product of design, wellbeing has frmly anchored in the heart of these students’ design intentions. I hope the columns convey some of their contagious enthusiasm. This booklet presents the frst ten columns, written from 2015 to 2018. Some of the design cases focus on individuals, others on groups. Some help us to rediscov- er out talents, some support us in forming meaningful relationships, and others enable us to invest in the happiness of ourselves and of the people we care about. Pieter Desmet Uniekies: your disability as your superpower Design by Janine Innemee What does it feel like to be a superhero? With Uniek- ies, a game designed by Janine Innemee, you can experience this yourself. The game is intended for children in the ages of 6 to 11 years old. What makes this game special is that it encourages active play between children with and without a physical disability. Uniekies’s positive approach is a good example of how you can take someone’s own unique strengths as the starting point for an innovative design. The league of superheroes Uniekies revolves around the superheroes: children with a disability. There is a whole array of heroes, as each disability represents a specifc superpower. For example, there is Lens (the Secrets Master), the superhero character for children with a hearing impairment. Lens is able to communicate at great distances and pass along secret signs. Bumper (the Space Master), the character for children in a wheelchair, is able to clear the playing feld fast as lightning and protect his followers. Flow (the Flex Master) has trouble with actions requiring fne mo- tor skills but is also super-fexible which means he can easily crawl through narrow spaces. In short, an entire legion of unique superheroes: the Uniekies. Fortunately, those powers aren’t just for superheroes. Children without a disability can experience them as 6 well, but they have to make an effort. Together with the superheroes, they make special super power suits for dress-up. A bumper suit, for instance, is made by stringing lots of balloons to your body. With this suit, you can ‘bump’, just like superhero Bumper. At the same time, you experience the chal- lenges of getting around in a wheelchair in a playful way. Once all the superheroes have their costumes on, the children come up with a game together in which they can use their super powers. Playful solidarity From limitations to possibilities With Uniekies, the children experience equality The main idea behind the project was that remov- by playing with their differences. The game offers ing physical barriers was not enough to encourage a context for solidarity and lots of active fun. The play between children with and without physical game is very modest in terms of the materials disabilities. It’s just as important to remove social needed. All you need is a set of cards with instruc- barriers. During her research, Janine discovered tions that you can print and cut out yourself: cards that children without disabilities have a double atti- that show the limitations and superpowers of the tude with regards to playing with children who have superheroes and cards that give tips on how you disabilities. On the one hand, they don’t want to can make the superhero suits. You can use all sorts exclude any children, but on the other hand they’re of materials that can be found in every home: alu- afraid that playing with them will be dull if they need minium foil, an umbrella, lots of adhesive tape, etc. to adapt to others’ limitations. This dilemma trans- lated itself into the design challenge: Developing preCisely by emphasising the differenCes rather a game that promotes social integration between than minimising them. With the superhero meta- children with and without a disability by positively phor, the attention shifts from limitations to possi- infuencing the children’s attitude. With Uniekies, bilities, to the unique power of eaCh Child. And by children discover how adventurous and exciting the enCouraging Creativity, the Children’s empathy and interaction between limitations and capabilities can understanding of each other is stimulated. Acces- be. And this solves the dilemma between playing sibility is just as important: the game’s simpliCity together and being challenged. makes it very aCCessible to everyone. Eventually, the quality of a design is determined by the mean- Tape, foil, and rubber bands ing and added value to the users, and if that Can be What inspires me, is that Janine has made the dis- achieved with so little material, it makes the design ability the Central foCus of her design in a positive that muCh stronger. way. In the magiC of the game, there is equality – Uniekies was designed by Janine Innemee as thesis project for the master’s programme Design for Interac- tion at the TU Delft. The project was initiated by design agency Panton, and was carried out in partnership with the Nederlandse Stichting voor het Gehandicapte Kind (NSGK) and the Delft Institute of Positive Design (DIOPD). Thesis supervisors were Mathieu Gielen, Deger Ozkaramanli (TU Delft), Joris Swaak and Ingeborg Griffoen (Panton). For more information: www.diopd.org 8 9 Konnekt: the barrier as game board Design by Job Jansweijer In the Netherlands, over 500 children are diagnosed with cancer every year. During treatment they are often isolated, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for as much as four months. Visitors are limited and are only allowed with protective clothing - and playing with other kids is practically impossible. This causes boredom and sadness, and it hinders the child’s social development. This presents a challenge: can you design something that prevents these patients from becoming isolated? Independent designer Job Jans- weijer took on that challenge, and his solution is both simple and brilliant: the barrier as game board. Play Before he decided to take on this project, Job really had to think about whether he would be able to handle the emotions he foresaw when working with young cancer patients. Now, looking back on the project, he wouldn’t have hesitated for a single moment if he’d known what he would experience. Talking and working with these children proved to be the absolute highlight of his project. Those conversations have changed his perception. Initially, he particularly saw the cancer, the pain, the che- motherapy, the nausea and the traumas. But the ses- sions with the patients proved to be surprisingly open, fascinating and very enjoyable. His most important discovery was that these children could also have a lot of fun. Just like all other kids, they are playful, and if the 10 11 situation allows for it, they like nothing more than to tal in Rotterdam. The Children immediately started play with friends. As it turned out, his project wasn’t to play with the fgures and magnets on both sides about cancer, but about children. of the wall, with the glass serving as a game board. Step by step Job developed a game that Consists The result is KonneKt, a game that makes clever of Colourful shapes that Can be ConneCted and at- use of the glass wall between the patient’s room taChed to the window by means of suCtion Cups and the hallway. Job recognised the double mean- and magnets. KonneKt is suitable for three types of ing of these walls: the glass forms the connection games: games with Clear rules (gaming), Coming up with the outside world, but at the same time it with active games with their own rules (adventur- forms a barrier that hinders social contact. KonneKt ing), and inventing and telling fantasy stories (craft- transforms this barrier into a game board for active ing). For example, you Can play tiC taC toe, but you interaction. Can also make a Castle or a dragon or Create your own fantasy world. The magnets stimulate inter- Dragon aCtive play, beCause they will only stay up when a The game was developed together with the Chil- fgure is put up at both sides of the window.

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